28 February 2012

But today is the the second-to-last day of February this year because it's a leap year, which last happened in 2008, I'm told. Do you know where I was on Leap Day in February 2008? Me either.

I feel like Leap Day should be a huger deal than any holiday because of its relative rarity. Something that happens only once every four years has to be cooler than something that happens annually. I mean, really. I'm not sure what I would be celebrating if I did celebrate Leap Day, but I feel a lot of holidays are arbitrary, so that's not a reason to stop anyone. I should have been planning what to do tomorrow for the last four years in order to commemorate it. Unfortunately I've got nothing.

But nothing seems pretty appropriate, doesn't it, because normally this day doesn't exist? Time is weird; it's weird to think of time as a construct and not a constant. Who came up with the units we have that don't quite work with how long the sun takes to get around? Probably someone smarter than me, but still. The section about the Gregorian calendar on Wikipedia's "Leap Year" article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year#Gregorian_calendar) is kind of confusing. In 8000 years, we may or may not be a whole day off. What does that mean? It sounds like an existential crisis waiting to happen.

Also, it's weird to think about how time changes when you travel, right? Also traveling takes time. I need to stop thinking about this.

5 comments:

One of my brothers was born on Leap Year! So this Wednesday will be his first real birthday in 4 years. Also, to get in the proper Leap Day celebratory spirit, you're going to have to watch the Leap Day William episode of 30 Rock, if you haven't already.

I know what should happen - PIZZA! Also, the time change thing while traveling is weird. While we were flying the sun chased us around the world and I felt like I was on a never ending horizon line for a while - it was craziness.